As illustrated in Supplementary Figs 2 and 3, most canonical HIF-1α target genes (CA9, LDHA, GLUT1, PDK1, PGK1 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)) were significantly elevated in high NQO1-expressing tumours as compared with those with absent or low NQO1 expression38, 39, 40, 41, indicating that HIF-1α transcriptional signalling is accordingly activated in NQO1-expressing colorectal cancers. This evidence concerns the gene PDK1 and colorectal cancer.